How to Avoid the Mayhem of Redundant Words?7/29/2011 9:41:44 AMWe all have a safety net of our own unique vocabulary. These are the words that we’re comfortable with and they help to define our emotions, thoughts, and desires. You could say that our comfortable word choices helps to define who we are as a person. We are creatures of habit.

Words are strong. Words can hurt, inspire, and incite. “The pen is mightier than the sword”, holds words to an entire new meaning of truth.

I’m working on my third novel in my Emily Stone Series. There are many emotions flowing through my body. I’m excited that I’m going to complete book number three. I’m tired of rereading the same sentence. I’m exasperated to find another redundant word that I’ve used a million times in my story that I have to change.

How did I get so simple with my words? Is it my safety net of vocabulary words? Do I really use that adjective so many times when I’m describing something? Oh my!

Through the grueling process of rewrites, you discover many things about yourself as a person and as a writer. I found myself using certain words on this novel where I had really dig deep into my psyche to find a more appropriate words. The thesaurus is fine for most simple words, but I find that it doesn’t suffice for that particular adjective or description I need.

For example, how many times can you use the word “cop”? Well, you can say officer, police, fuzz, law enforcement personnel, policeman, policewoman, pig (I wouldn’t actually use that word), investigator, CSI, forensic tech, and police officer. Basically, I mix it up in my story.

Some examples of overused words, the use of went, walked, moved, and talked. There are more appropriate and colorful words, such as slithered, sauntered, traveled, departed, jogged, chatted, gabbed, encouraged, and stirred. Of course, there are many more words, but you get the idea.

I decided a while back to write down a couple dozen words that I seem to be rather connected to and replace each one with ten to twenty words. I have a nice redundant word cheat sheet. I would highly recommend it to anyone writing a long article, novella or full length novel to take the first ten pages and highlight words that are either redundant or don’t give a punch.

What are some of your favorite redundant words that need some spicing up?